Toms stretches lead at Colonial
David Toms enters the weekend with a seven-stroke advantage over Steven Bowditch, John Senden, Charlie Wi and Mark Wilson. It equals the largest 36-hole advantage by a leader in tournament history. In 1956, Chandler Harper also held a seven-shot lead at the halfway point. Toms’ lead is also the PGA TOUR’s largest halfway lead since Tiger Woods held the same advantage at the 2000 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.
Toms is bogey-free through his first 36 holes at this year’s tournament, and he played the final eight holes of the 2010 tournament without a bogey, giving him a streak of 44 consecutive par-or-better holes at Colonial Country Club. Toms is also working on a streak of eight consecutive under-par rounds at this event. He was 65-69 on the weekend in 2009, fired rounds of 68-67-68-65 on his way to a tie for 13th in 2010 and has begun 62-62 this year. Toms’ longest birdie putts of the day were both in the 17-foot range. He made a 17-foot, 6-inch birdie putt on No. 7 and a 17-foot, 3-inch putt on No. 11, two of his eight birdies on the day. This is the second consecutive week that Toms has been the leader at the halfway point of a PGA TOUR event. Last week at THE PLAYERS, Toms opened with 66-68 at TPC Sawgrass to hold the lead by himself. He eventually lost in a playoff to K.J. Choi. Toms has previously held or shared the 36-hole lead 12 times on the PGA TOUR. Of those 12 events, Toms went on to win three times, most recently at the 2004 FedEx St. Jude Classic.
After missing the cut at his last two events (Wells Fargo Championship and
THE PLAYERS Championship), Mark Wilson is back in contention. He’s one of two two-time winners this season (Bubba Watson is the other) and is seven strokes behind David Toms entering the weekend.
Making his third Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial appearance this week, Charlie Wi made his third consecutive cut at this tournament. He is 9-under after 36 holes and looks to improve on his best showing, a tie for 15th in 2008.
Chez Reavie followed his opening 62 that gave him a share of the first-round lead with a 71 Friday. Of those in the top 10 entering the weekend, Reavie is the only player with a round in the 70s.
With his opening 68-64 through 36 holes, this marks the first time since 2005 that Rory Sabbatini has opened with two sub-70 rounds at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. In 2005, he opened with rounds of 67-69 and eventually tied for sixth. In 11 previous appearances at Colonial Country Club, the 2007 champion has played 39 rounds, with 20 of them in the 60s.
Defending Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial champion Zach Johnson is at 3-under and tied for 33rd as he heads into the weekend. The last player to win back to back at Colonial was Ben Hogan (1952-53). Hogan also did it in 1946-47.
Despite a quick start that saw him get to 9-under through 10 holes Friday, Rickie Fowler struggled on Colonial Country Club’s back nine, making three bogeys in four holes (Nos. 11, 13 and 14) before rallying with birdies on No. 17 and No. 18 to jump into a tie for sixth at 8-under.
The cut came at 1-under 139, with 70 players making it to the weekend. On his final hole of the day, Jimmy Walker (67) knocked his approach shot from 81 yards to 4 1/2 feet (the par-4 ninth) and knocked in the birdie putt to make the cut on the number at 1-under 139. As a result, 10 players who appeared set to play on the weekend ultimately missed the cut.
